Olympics co-operation is just the beginning

TRADA’s Andrew Abbott told the London Softwood Club that the industry had to co-operate much more actively to challenge competing building materials for a slice of the Olympic action. Correct. But it goes much further than the Olympics.Every week concrete and steel industry bodies deliver seminars to architects, sit on esoteric committees of a host of building related bodies, write for the trade press, produce technical reports and so on. We do some of this, but we are a long way from having the representative depth of these sectors. It’s instructive to ask why?Yes, they have more money and structures more conducive to providing the resources and policy an industry needs. But, above all, they have the perception of a unified voice speaking for a unified industry. Do we in the wood industry have the same? No. And if we had a blank sheet of paper we would probably not structure our representation the way it is. Ideally we’d have one organisation delivering all the representation an industry needs: political, promotional and technical. Currently these three strands are divided between various trade associations, wood. for good and TRADA. But rather than examining whether this is the the best approach for us, we should get on and make sure that it is.Co-operation around the Olympics provides a model we can take forward. The skill sets in industry trade associations can deliver political influence; wood. for good has shown it can get to architects, specifiers and contractors; and TRADA can deliver the technical support to underpin the conversations we need to have with customers.If there’s one thing we lack, it’s resource. Andrew urged everyone to back the bodies that can deliver the change needed to improve the industry’s bottom line. To do that it needs to look on its representative bodies as an investment. With political influence and generic promotion based on fact, wood will easily win the race to be the number one choice building and fabrication material. That will provide a long-term return for our industry and the planet.John White is chief executive of the Timber Trade Federation